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Sacred Harp Australia

Shape Note Resources & Singings ~ All Welcome

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Upcoming singings

Casting call! Shape Note Singers are invited to be in a short film on Saturday 29 August 2026

Venue & times TBC. Likely western Sydney, all day long, with a social or followup singing the following day (that’s not part of the film). Sydney singers will be happy to billet any visitors, and some travel assistance is available for those who are coming from outside of Sydney.

For more information, check back here, contact us, or keep an eye on the Sydney Shape Note Singers page on Facebook.

The 6th Kyneton All-Day Singing will be held on Saturday 21 November 2026

Red Brick Hall, 23 Yaldwyn Street, Kyneton, Victoria

For more information, see the Kyneton page, the Sacred Harp Melbourne Facebook page, or email Lauren at kynetonsacredharp [at] gmail.com

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Australian Convention

The 10th Australian Sacred Harp Convention will be held in Gerringong, New South Wales, on the weekend of 22 to 24 January 2027. More details to come.

PAST CONVENTIONS

The 9th Australian Sacred Harp Convention was held in Melbourne over the weekend of 23 – 25 January 2026.

Check out photos on the Melbourne Sacred Harp Facebook page here: Saturday (Day 1) and Sunday (Day 2)

The 8th Australian Sacred Harp Convention was held in Sydney over the weekend of 25 – 27 January 2025.

Check out photos from a wonderful weekend of singing (including a walking/singing tour of Sydney) on the Sydney Shape Note Singers Facebook page here and here.

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What’s this all about?

In this April 2025 episode of Heart and Soul (BBC Sounds) Sacred Harp pioneer and former punk frontman, Tim Eriksen, explores the resurgence of shape note singing and how it is managing to remain inclusive despite increasing political polarisation in the wider culture.

Kevin Barrans, a singer from Washington State in the US, provides an excellent overview of Sacred Harp Singing in this video from Seattle’s Art Zone.

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Quote Note

The rich multicultural history of Protestant music, which absorbed in the folk styles of each region that was converted, is reflected in the repertory of the Sacred Harpers. There is the influence of John Calvin and the 1539 Genevan Psaltery and of the brilliant Scots psalmodists later in the sixteenth century, where unison and heterophony were fostered; of the musical reformers of the Anglican service; of the radical Methodists, like John and Charles Wesley, who brought many British folk and popular tunes into the hymnals by setting religious words to them; and, all-pervasive, of the Baptists, who led the way in the popular religious revivals in Britain and America and thus introduced many folk tunes and much folksy singing into the church.

From White Spirituals from the Sacred Harp, by Alan Lomax

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Quote note

“At a point, in the peaking rush of all that harmony, with so many bold, rushing voices around me, it seemed that not just we, but the song itself began to sing! It seemed to just catch fire and burn across us.” — Buell Cobb, Like Cords Around My Heart

The hollow square

The hollow square ready to welcome singers at the Dickson Street Space. By Meg Quinlisk (Sydney Shapenote Singers).
The hollow square ready to welcome singers at the Dickson Street Space. By Meg Quinlisk (Sydney Shapenote Singers).

Quote note

“Nothing is weirder than Sacred Harp. Its favored subject matter–the pilgrim, the grave, Christ’s blood–is stark; its style–severe fourths and otherworldly open fifths–has been obsolete for more than a century. Its notation, in which triangles, circles and squares indicate pitch, looks like cuneiform. Yet it exudes power and integrity. Five people sound like a choir; a dozen like a hundred.” — David Van Biema, Give Me That Old-Time Singing, Time Magazine 2008

Quote note

“My music teacher offered twittering madrigals and something about how, in Italy, in Italy, the oranges hang on the tree. He treated me – the humiliation of it – as a soprano.

These, by contrast, are the six elements of a Sacred Harp alto: rage, darkness, motherhood, earth, malice, and sex. Once you feel it, you can always do it. You know where to go for it, though it will cost you.”
― Mary Rose O’Reilley, The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

Welcome to the Australian Sacred Harp community

Hello!

We’re excitedly working towards this becoming a portal for information about singing Sacred Harp and other sources of shape note music in Australia.

If you are coordinating singings in Australia and would like to include your information, or  if you would like more information please contact Ruby Foster.

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